Naples Winter Wine Festival announces 2014 event chairs

Staff Reports

11:14 AM, May 22, 2013

Ranked by Wine Spectator as the most successful charity wine auction in the nation, the Naples Winter Wine Festival will again combine fun and philanthropy to raise millions of dollars for underprivileged and at-risk children from Jan. 24-26 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples.

The festival, which takes more than a year to plan, is an intimate affair for 550 guests and has raised more than $110 million for children in need.

For the first time, three women will chair this elaborate festival. All three – Linda Malone, Anne Welsh McNulty and Adria Starkey – are trustees of Naples Children & Education Foundation, the organization that founded the festival in 2001. Malone is also the first returning chair, having overseen a record-breaking festival in 2007.

The 2014 festival theme is Celebrate the Journey. The chairs selected the theme to reflect the diverse journeys undertaken since the festival's inception – the journey to a better life for more than 150,000 children; the festival's world-renowned fundraising journey from $2 million in 2001 to more than $110 million raised to date; the wonderful and exciting journeys festival patrons have taken after winning exotic travel packages at auction; and the triumphant journey of grapes to glasses of extraordinary wine. Information: www.NaplesWineFestival.com.